Does China ‘operate’ Panama Canal, as Trump says?

During his inaugural address, President Donald Trump doubled down on his assertion that China runs the Panama Canal. “China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back,” he said. The 51-mile (82km) Panama Canal cuts across the Central American nation and is the main link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Up to 14,000 ships use it each year as a shortcut to a journey which, before the canal was built, would have taken them on a lengthy and costly trip around the tip of South America.